Selling Sickness, 2013: People Before Profits February 21 - 22, 2013 bringing together ACADEMIC MEDICAL REFORMERS, CONSUMER ACTIVISTS, AND HEALTH JOURNALISTS to examine the current scope of disease mongering and to develop strategies and coalitions FOR CHANGE Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill Washington D.C. Floorplan REGENCY D REGENCY B REGENCY C GOOD NEWS EXHIBIT HALL Ballroom Level 2 Selling Sickness 2013: People Before Profits - Washington D.C. Table of Contents Conference Floorplan ............................................................................. 2 Welcome from Leonore and Kim ............................................................ 4 Special Thank Yous ............................................................................... 5 Disease-Mongering, defined.................................................................. 6 Call To Action On Disease Mongering ................................................... 7 Booktivism ............................................................................................. 9 Schedule-at-a-glance, Thursday, 2/21 ................................................... 10 Schedule-at-a-glance, Friday, 2/22 ........................................................ 11 Conference Program ............................................................................. 12 Wednesday, Registration, Social Hour .............................................. 12 Thursday morning sessions and break ............................................. 12 Thursday lunch .................................................................................. 15 Thursday afternoon sessions and break ........................................... 16 Thursday social hour ......................................................................... 23 Thursday evening Popcorn Showcase .............................................. 23 Friday morning sessions and break .................................................. 24 Friday lunch ....................................................................................... 26 Friday afternoon sessions and break ................................................ 27 Floorplan, Good News Exhibit Hall ........................................................ 36 Good News Exhibit Hall Exhibitors ........................................................ 37 Selling Sickness Crossword .................................................................. 38 Conference Speakers ............................................................................ 39 Notes Pages .......................................................................................... 43 Crossword solution ................................................................................ 47 3 Selling Sickness 2013: People Before Profits - Washington D.C. Welcome To Our Participants For the past year Leonore Tiefer (New York) and Kim Witczak (Minneapolis) have teamed together to make this conference happen. They might seem an unlikely pair, a much-published academic partnering with an ad-agency marketing exec! In fact it’s been synergy from the start, and a model outside-the-box collaboration. Our disgust at the world of “selling sickness,” our passion for citizen activism and our conviction that collaboration across the aisle was the appropriate theme for conference process as well as content made us the perfect pair. Twice-weekly Skype calls month after month forged a personal and working bond that merged our skills, networks and resources and enabled us to get through floods, hurricanes, family sickness, injuries, work crises, and lots of other high hurdles. We organized this conference on a financial shoestring, pledging our own savings as guarantee, soliciting contributions internationally from nonprofit organizations, and “friendraising.” We had huge amounts of help from friends, colleagues and family. All attendees are paying their own travel, lodging, and registration. The incentive? Commitment to the issues, to learning and dialog, and to turning analysis to action. We are outraged by the abuses of heathcare that are the consequences of “disease mongering” and we believe it is time for a progressive movement to come together to make a difference. Although completely independent and without any central organization or group, Selling Sickness, 2013 represents the 3rd in an international series: Newcastle, Australia, 2006; Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2010; Washington DC, USA, 2013. This is a global reform movement, and we felt it was about time it came to the US, the beating heart of overmarketing! We welcome the participation of colleagues from around the world who have travelled long distances to be part of this new health reform movement. We hope the addition of consumer activist and advocate groups to the earlier Selling Sickness network will broaden, deepen, and energize its message and stakeholders. There is a progressive political tide turning against the marketization of health, the corporatization of healthcare, and the hijacking of patient and consumer language to disguise market interests. Our CALL TO ACTION ON DISEASE MONGERING is part of this tide. Read it. Participate in the discussions about it. Make suggestions towards the final version. Sign on at the conference or later, online. Help circulate and implement the final version. Make use also of our BOOKTIVISM project - a collection of reading guides on important recent texts that challenge disease-mongering. If everyone here reads two of the books in BOOKTIVISM with which they were formerly unfamiliar, far-reaching ideas would reach farther. Our GOOD NEWS EXHIBIT HALL (GNEH) is the final innovation of this conference. This is not your old- fashioned exhibit hall where big companies pay lots of money to schmooze with conferees and use the latest in ad-glitz to proclaim their newest products. Our GNEH is a low fee opportunity for nonprofit groups to share their materials, expand their networks, and gain courage and support. Please check them out in Regency D. Schmoozing is encouraged! Our sellingsickness.com WEBSITE will remain up after the conference with a video of highlights, powerpoint slides from talks, the all-important CALL TO ACTION, and the BOOKTIVISM materials. Thank you so much for believing in our vision and attending this meeting. Stay in touch, have a great time while you’re here, and spread the word. Kim and Leonore [email protected], [email protected] 4 Selling Sickness 2013: People Before Profits - Washington D.C. A Special Thank You Our Sponsors Our Friends Alliance for Human Research Protection John Abramson, MD Association for Women in Psychology Deborah Berry British Medical Journal Alan Cassels Center for Digital Democracy Friends and Family in Memory of Citizens for Patient Safety Tim “Woody” Witczak Consumer Union Dr. David Henry Every Patient’s Advocate Allen Jones Health Action International Christopher Lane HealthPartners Judy Norsigian Informed Medical Decisions Foundation Keith and Pat Olson International Society for Drug Bulletins Psychology’s Feminist Voices Medication Induced Suicide Education Foundation in Harriet Rosenberg Memory of Stewart Dolin (MISSD) Richard Lee Mothers Against Medical Error Gordon Schiff, MD National Physicians Alliance Carol Tavris Public Library of Science (PLoS) Prescrire Our Volunteers Social Medicine Publishing Group Binzen+Binzen Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Vicki Breitbart South Carolina Center for Medication Safety and Ef- David Cohen ficacy & South Carolina College of Pharmacy Danny Czaja The Lundberg Institute Laura Eldridge The Peggy Lillis Memorial Foundation Fiona Godlee USC Annenberg School for Communication & Jour- Susie Hanchett nalism’s Reporting on Health project Iona Heath University of Victoria, Women’s Studies Elke Hinze (Plumeria Web Design) Union of Concerned Scientists Center for Science and Amber Hui Democracy Jessica Joseph Women’s Therapy Centre Institute Sheldon Krimsky Rachael Liebert Margaret McCartney Our Endorsers Beth Miller American Medical Student Association Pharmfree Sarah Molinoff Campaign Tehseen Noorani Breast Cancer Action Sandra Nuland Canadian Women’s Health Network Cindy Pearson Center for Genetics and Society Ela Przybylo Center for Medical Consumers Sara Rodrigues Community Catalyst Alexandra Rutherford Consumers United for Evidence-based Healthcare Scott Schmitt (CUE) Elise Schuster Council for Responsible Genetics Tara Sheoran National Women’s Health Network Michael Simon Our Bodies Ourselves Eric Swan Pharmawatch Kristine Swan Therapeutics Initiative Bill Vaughan Michael Waite Steve Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz George Yin 5 Selling Sickness 2013: People Before Profits - Washington D.C. Dis•ease•Mong•er•ing (gerund, a verb form, ending in -ing, that functions as a noun) 1. Making people sick, or think they are sick, or think they will be sick or could be sick or might be sick -- in mind or body -- to sell products and expand markets. 2. Widening diagnostic boundaries to diagnose more people to expand markets. 3. Portraying mild problems as serious illnesses and promoting ever more expensive and extensive assessments instead of using clinical judgment and teaching common sense. 4. Corrupting medical research and publishing to expand markets. 5. Medicalizing ordinary life so people never feel well, always at risk. 6 Selling Sickness 2013: People Before Profits - Washington D.C. A Call to Action on Disease Mongering Here is the CALL TO ACTION ON DISEASE-MONGERING, a document which summarizes critiques of and remedies